Swedish (Svenska)
Swedish is a North Germanic language with around 9 million speakers mainly in Sweden and Finland, and also in Estonia, Norway, Canada and the USA. It is closely related to Norwegian and Danish and is mutually intelligible with them to a large extent, particularly in its written form.
One of the earliest uses of Swedish as a literary language was “Gustav Vasa’s Bible”, translated and published in 1540-1 under the patronage of King Gustav Vasa.
Finland was ruled by Sweden from the 12th century until 1809 and during that period, Swedish was the main language of government and education there. Today Finnish and Swedish have equal status as official languages in Finland.

Well, in lack of better things to do I began an attempt to write a profile. I've used some of the suggestions earlier in this thread, either in part or completely (e.g Travel Opportunities as suggested by Steve). And some of what I've done so far would probably be better off written by a non-native speaker.

It is not yet complete, and I would appreciate it if someone else took care of the parts concerning difficulties/grammar, or at least made suggestions for what to write.

Grammatical corrections, and comments in general, are welcome and probably needed!

INTRODUCTION

Norwegian belongs to the North Germanic language family, and is part of what may be seen as part of a continuous series of more or less mutally intelligible Scandinavian dialects. It has an estimated 4.7 million speakers, but due to it's similarities with Swedish and Danish one may, with some effort, be able to communicate with about 20 million people using only Norwegian.

USEFULNESS

Norwegian is helpful when you travel to Norway, including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Where it is the national language. Depending on where you go, you can get by with knowing much or little of the language as many norwegians speak English.

Speaking Norwegian is also helpful in Denmark and Sweden due to the similarities between the languages.

If you are aspiring to master the North Germanic language family Norwegian is probably the best starting point. CHIC FACTOR

Given it's exotic nature Norwegian definetively has somewhat of a chic factor and charm. It may also serve as an effective conversational icebreaker with what is one of the most socially reserved populations in the world.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

Due to the familiarity with English among norwegians the economic importance of the Norwegian language may be seen as relatively small.

Some of the main industries are: petroleum and gas, fishing and food processing, shipbuilding and shipping, pulp and paper products, metals.

TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES

Norway is an incredibly expensive country to travel through for most, however, once you're there, you'll be in no doubt that the spectacular beauty of the countryside is worth the hassle of having to starve yourself for a few days.

Norwegians are always happy to help you, but will most often speak to you in English as the vast majority of people under the age of 40 can hold their own in the language and will probably make you feel a little ashamed. However, a little knowledge of Norwegian will go a very long way, as Norwegians do not expect you to learn their language, any attempt to do so is seen as rather commendable. It's also useful to have some knowledge of the language when leaving visiting the countryside, especially if you come across older folk.

COUNTRIES

Norway, including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Scandinavian settlements in the USA (the midwest in particular).

SPEAKERS

An estimated 4.7 million in 2007 (Source: Statistisk Sentralbyrå).

VARIATIONS

There are two officially recognized forms of written Norwegian - Bokmål, also called Dano-Norwegian due to it's Danish influence, and Nynorsk, created from various traditional dialects as a reaction to the danish influence. Bokmål is by far the most popular (used in 92% of all written publications), and is the written dialect most commonly taught to foreign learners of the language.

Due to the rugged landscape of Norway, and the norwegians love for settling in forlorn places with austere weather conditions, there are great variations in how the language is spoken throughout the country. Some dialects may be problematic to understand until one gets familiar with them (however most norwegians will be able to help foreign learners by speaking a more standardized form). A dialect often refered to as "standard østnorsk" may be regarded as the spoken variant of Bokmål.

CULTURE

Norway has a rich literary tradition with works by authors like e.g. Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun being regarded as international classics. Knowing the Norwegian language opens a vault of impressive literature from a variety of genres.

A partial list of authors can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Norwegian_Writers

Norway is also known for it's music, wether it is the haunting traditional music, classical or more modern styles. One of Norways biggest cultural exports is black metal music, a genre that has sparked interest in Norwegian language and culture among many foreigners.

Also with regards to visual arts and architecture Norway is internationally renowned, with painters like Edvard Munch and Odd Nerdrum, and the peculiar architecture of the stave churches.

DIFFICULTIES

To people familiar with English Norwegian should be relatively easy to learn compared to other languages. The greatest difficulty probably lies in the pronunciation, and becoming familiar with the various spoken dialects.

GRAMMAR

PRONUNCIATION

Norwegian pronunciation should not pose as a big threat to most people.

The letter 'r' seems to be the biggest problem to people with English as their first language, as it is normally pronounced like the "rolled 'r'" found in e.g. Spanish and Italian, but could also be pronounced like the more guttural French 'r' (common in southwestern and southern dialects).

VOCABULARY

Most of the Norwegian vocabulary is inherited from Old Norse, with the biggest source of loan words being Middle Low German.

TRANSPARENCY

Norwegian is close to the other members of the Germanic language family, especially the North Germanic languages. It shares some vocabulary with English, but is not considerably close in other regards.

SPELLING

TIME NEEDED

A wild guess would be 250-300 hours to be able to have normal conversations.

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